


Our footsteps in the snow

by wertdifferenz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Klancemas 2019, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-19 15:17:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 12,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22066888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wertdifferenz/pseuds/wertdifferenz
Summary: A collection of prompts I wrote for the Klancemas 2019 prompts my friend paladin.teddy put together on Instagram!
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 13





	1. First snow

„Look!“ 

Lance points his gloved hand towards the grey, cloudy sky. The sun hasn‘t shown since morning, but Keith still felt the need to get out and move, burn some energy and, most importantly, take Kosmo for a walk. 

His husband has been keen to join him. Packed into their warmest clothes, covered in thick scarves and handmade beanies, they‘ve been walking through their small city for the past hour. 

They passed the dog park Keith takes Kosmo all the time and used the space to play with a frisbee, Kosmo‘s favorite toy. Now, with the dog jogging next to them, and Lance warming the tips of his fingers in the pocket of Keith‘s jacket, it‘s slowly time to get back home and spend the rest of the early evening under their warm blankets on their couch. 

Lance‘s happy outcry stopped them in their tracks though, and when Keith‘s eyes look where Lance is pointing, he realizes why. 

It‘s already dark, so all light they get is from the streetlamp they are standing under. It‘s all the light they need though, illuminating a spot just for them, and showing how the first snow of the year has slowly started to fall all around them. 

A faint breeze lets the snowflakes dance around the pair, and Kosmo dances with them, trying to catch some in his mouth. He loves snow, just as Lance does, who is catching a few of the snowflakes in his hand. They melt right away, but that doesn‘t stop him from smiling brightly. 

Keith copies his smile, too content to see his boyfriend enjoy himself so much. They never managed to experience the first snow together, so this is a very special moment for him. 

Nothing is disturbing the silence around them. No car driving off, no people on the streets, not even the cold is bothering in this moment. 

It‘s just them, and their dog, laughing and running through the streets until their cheeks are red and their breathe turns to puffy little clouds that disappear into the air. 

Lance takes his hand out of Keith‘s jacket and intertwines their cold fingers, the glove not keeping him from kissing the back of Keith‘s hand until Keith pulls him to his chest and catches his lips instead. 

Gosh, even their lips are cold, and bibbering like crazy. They spend way too much time outside in this weather already, but who could blame them? It‘s so easy to forget themselves in the moment with cold kisses and colder snowflakes landing on the tips of their hair that peek out from under their beanies. 

„Our first first snow,“ Keith whispers against Lance‘s lips, getting a chuckle and a ‚sap‘ that he swallow with his mouth in return. They stay like this, in each others arms, each others warm until Kosmo starts to tug on his leash, yearning for his warm blanket on their couch as well. 

Their first first snow ends with cuddles and hot chocolate, and the wish to spend many, many more together. 


	2. Sweaters

Sometimes Keith envies how skilled Lance is with his hands. 

With knitting, to be exact. Not what you guys think! 

He learned how to knit scarves and socks from his abuela back in Cuba, and later on beanies with pompoms and blankets from his mother after they moved to Florida. Thanks to that, almost every comfortable surface of their home is covered in beautifully patterned blankets and bed covers. Thanks to that Keith never has a cold neck or cold hands, even when he spends hours outside walking Kosmo or shoveling the snow out of their driveway. 

The best thing that Lance can knit though are sweaters. Keith already has a bunch of them, in every color. Thanks to Lance‘s niece bugging him so much, Keith even has a rainbow colored one, though he only wore it once, when he got it two years ago, and never again. 

The rainbow is just a tick too bright for him. 

What is not too bright is white. At Shiro‘s wedding last year, Lance discovered that Keith can pull off any white dress shirt, and he figured that white wool would fit Keith as well. 

He was not wrong. 

Keith is currently wearing one of the white sweaters Lance made. It has a criss-cross pattern on his arms and down his chest, and a high collar since Keith likes to cuddle himself into Lance‘s sweaters. Those are his favorite sensations, the softness of the wool, the faint smell of Lance‘s laundry detergent, and the knowledge that Lance made this sweater just for Keith.

There is love in every stitch, Lance once told him. And Keith can feel it whenever he wears the things Lance made for him. 

Just like now. They are cuddling on their couch, Lance covered with two blankets because he likes it warm, and Keith covered with one because he just likes the blanket.

Lance is leaning into his side, his head on Keith‘s shoulder and his hand slowly sneaking out from his two blankets to get under Keith‘s. His fingers roam over Keith‘s thigh and lower stomach, tickling in the process of finding Keith‘s hand until he finally gets a grip of Keith‘s arm and follows it down. 

Their fingers intertwine, and Lance squeezes them gently, sighing in content and slipping further into Keith‘s space. 

Keith lets him. Squeezes back and leans his head on Lance‘s. Sighs contently as well before letting his attention drift back to the TV and the documentary about sharks Lance wanted to watch. 

He‘s obviously not watching. His eyes are closed and he‘s getting heavier and heavier, and while Keith learns another unwanted fact about sharks, Lance drifts off. Covered with two blankets and grasping Keith‘s hand firmly, even in his sleep, he stays like this for the next hour or so, until it‘s time to start making dinner. 

Then, Keith will simply pick him up and carry him towards their bedroom, where another warm blankets is waiting for Lance. His boyfriend deserves the rest, Keith decides while kissing Lance‘s forehead gently. 

He gets to the kitchen and prepares some simple dinner, rolling up the sleeves of his sweater and making sure to wear one of Lance‘s aprons so no food gets spilled on his prized possession. 

White sweaters don‘t do well with tomato sauce, and Keith loves those sweaters. You know that already. 

You will probably also know that Lance will wake up just in time for dinner, will kiss his husband as a thank you for letting him rest, and will clean up the dishes before getting on the couch to cuddle with Keith again, and to make another sweater. 

Keith loves them after all. And Lance makes sure to put all his love into every stitch, to make sure that Keith knows that he‘s loved as well.


	3. By the fire

Lance never really thought that he had a thing for fire. 

Sure, he loves bonfires at the beach, especially with all his family singing songs and playing guitar and making smores for the kids to eat. He also loves the bonfires at festivals, when it‘s late and the sun is long gone and you start to shiver with your cotton candy in your hand, but then they light the bonfire and you can warm your body next to it while marvelling at the beautiful flames. 

And, most importantly, Lance loves Keith‘s fire. If his husband was an element, it would be fire for sure. He‘s beautiful and strong, and in winter he keeps Lance warm by letting him cuddle as close as possible. He is also fiery, stubborn and hot-headed at times, and it‘s impossible to put out his will. 

In the beginning of their relationship, Lance burned himself more than once at Keith‘s fire, but now he‘s used to it. Learned how to live with it, and how to love it just as much as he loves Keith. It‘s part of him after all, and Lance would be damned if he didn‘t love all of his husband with all of his heart. 

Thinking back, Lance doesn‘t know how he could have not realized that he totally has a thing for fire. 

He only started to realize when they lit the fireplace of their freshly bought house for the first time. It was in the middle of winter, the worst time to move honestly, but after every box was moved into the house and the fire was heating up the whole place, Lance felt like he was finally at home.

In his first own home with Keith. In his perfect little world with the love of his life.

Since then, Lance insisted on lighting the fireplace whenever possible. After a long day at work, or after shoveling the snow out of their driveway, after coming back from babysitting his niblings and especially whenever he felt  _ bored. _

There was nothing better than cuddling with his husband, his dog and a nice cup of hot chocolate on their rug in front of the fireplace. 

Nothing more entertaining than watching the flames dance around the fireplace and listening to his husband‘s steady heartbeat. 

Lance got a thing for fire just like he‘s got a thing for Keith. Really, how could he not have thought of that sooner?


	4. Baking

Keith hates baking. Whether it‘s making a cake or a tarte or pastries or cookies. He hates it. 

Him and baking are like fire and the doug that always burns, no matter what he does. 

And yet, he‘s standing in the kitchen, covered in flour, chocolate and probably some sugar as well, watching the cookies he just made bake with two giggling children by his side. 

Lance‘s brother was called into work earlier that day, since a lot of people are sick with a cold or the flu that‘s going around like crazy. He asked Lance to babysit his niblings after school, but Lance had to work as well, just like the rest of his family. 

Keith though was off. And so he offered to babysit, which earned him a big kiss from his husband and a thankful pat on the shoulder by his brother-in-law. Oh, and two screaming kids as well. 

Since he doesn‘t really know what to do with the kids without Lance around, he simply asked them, and they immediately shouted ‚let‘s bake some cookies‘ with a sparkle in their eyes that Keith could not refuse. 

Did he mention that he hates baking?

That also means that he sucks at it. 

Nadia and Sylvio surprisingly don‘t suck at it so much. They walked him through every step of the pretty simple chocolate chip cookie recipe, making sure that he takes the right measurements and mixes the ingredients together in the right order.

Gosh, they even made sure Keith doesn‘t fuck up preheating the oven and setting the timer!

He‘s pretty sure that if he left the kids to bake alone, chances would be small that they burn down the kitchen. Keith meanwhile… Well, he actually burned down a kitchen once, so that‘s that…

„Tío Keith,“ Nadia interrupts his thoughts, „I think we can go play now.“ She looks from the timer to the living room, where a set of boardgames Lance laid out for them is waiting. 

„I think you‘re right,“ Keith answers with a smile. Just in case, he sets a timer on his phone as well, so they really can‘t burn down the kitchen. Lance would kill him if he did that again. „What do you wanna play?“

„Ludo,“ Nadia and Sylvio shout together, making Keith shake his head with a smile. It‘s their favorite game, something they play every time they come to visit. Just like their tío, those two can be pretty persistent about their favorite things. 

„Alright then.“ 

They play for ten minutes, until the timer on Keith‘s phone jerks them out of the game. They quickly get to the oven, Sylvio hands him some gloves and Nadia places a grid on the table to put the cookies on. 

Keith is surprised when he gets the baking tray out of the oven with twenty-two perfectly baked cookies on top. It‘s the first time that happened, at least for him. To say he‘s proud is an understatement, even though he would have never managed without the kids. 

Just as the last cookie is placed on the cooling rack, the front door opens and Lance enters with a smile. „I‘m home!“

„Tío Lance,“ Nadia shouts, running straight into his arms and letting herself get picked up. „Tío Keith and Sylvio and I made cookies!“ 

Lance face bleaches and his head shoots towards Keith, who‘s looking at him with a guilty smile. 

Did Keith mention that he‘s actually banned from the kitchen?

Well, he did now.

Lance walks into the kitchen, shoes and jacket still on but forgotten, and does a double take of whole room. „You didn‘t burn the place down,“ he notices finally, looking at Keith as if he has seen a ghost. 

„Nope.“ Keith bites his lip to hide his proud smile. He should feel guilty for using the kitchen after all. 

Lance lets himself get dragged towards the rack with the cookies by Sylvio and marvels at them for a solid minute before looking back at Keith. „You didn‘t even burn the cookies!“ 

Keith grins. „I know!“ 

„Amazing,“ Lance whispers, before looking at his niblings. „You guys are staying here from now on.“

Sylvio and Nadia are ecstatic about that, even if they know that they gotta go home at some point. To be honest, Keith is happy as well. Maybe the kids and him can bake a few more cookies, some for their parents and grandparents, some for Lance and Keith to eat when they‘re doing their next movie night. 

Oh, and they also gotta finish their board game. The afternoon is not over yet, after all. 


	5. Decorating

Keith never really decorated his flat for Christmas. You don‘t really do it when you are alone, with no one watching and no one judging. He‘s not into Christmas in the first place, so decorating his flat for four weeks only to take everything down again for the next forty-eight weeks is just too much of an effort. 

Lance though, oh boy. 

Lance is SO into Christmas. 

It‘s no surprise, with him growing up in a big family, where there were always some kids to get into the Christmas spirit. Decorating, baking cookies, making presents, even just the mere act of being kind to each other is a huge thing in Lance‘s family. 

And of course, that makes it a huge thing for Keith as well. 

Don‘t get him wrong. Even with Lance around he‘s not into Christmas. He doesn‘t do all that stuff for himself, but for Lance-

Keith would do anything to make Lance happy. 

Even decorate his whole flat, from the kitchen to the bedroom, with Christmas stuff. 

It‘s amazing how much decoration Lance owns. And he has a place for everything. A picture of Santa and his niblings for the shelf next to their door, some wooden decoration for the shelves in the living room. 

He has special tablecloth for the dining room table, including matching napkin rings, and a cloth for the couch table as well. He has a fake tree with hundreds of pretty ornaments, lametta that he can‘t use because they have two cats at home, even four sets of bedsheets that lasts them through the month. 

Or half of the month if they are being naughty. Though Lance is quick to wash them, even if he has to get up earlier for that. 

Lance has so much decoration that even he himself gets overwhelmed sometimes. The only thing he is allowed to buy in shops during winter are presents for his family and some candles that they can at least burn. 

They have hundreds of candles, but it‘s the only thing Lance wouldn‘t let go. Keith doesn‘t really care, but the space in their attic is getting too small for all of Lance‘s Christmas decoration, so he had to tone it down a couple hundred notches. 

This is probably enough explanation on how much decoration Lance owns. 

There is only one thing we should clarify: Why Lance never decorates without Keith.

It‘s not the fact that it‘s too much work to do it alone, or the fact that Lance wants to get Keith into the Christmas spirit as well. 

It‘s because as a kid, growing up in foster homes, the happiest time of Keith‘s year was Christmas. It was the only time where there were no fights, where he could stay with a family for more than a couple of days, where he even got a present and a nice plate of warm food that he barely got during the rest of the year. 

When Keith told Lance about all that, it‘s safe to say that Lance was horrified. 

So, to make sure that Keith gets all of Christmas, the decoration and the baking and the presents and the carols and the kindness and the spending time with his family, Lance ropes Keith in from the start.

Keith doesn‘t really care about the decoration, but he loves seeing Lance happy, and he loves that his husband wants to spend that time with him and no one else. 

Because Keith wants just the same. 


	6. Sledding

„You,“ Lance says in shock, stopping Keith by pulling his hand and gaping at him with wide eyes, „have never been on a sledge before?“

Keith rolls his eyes, already regretting telling Lance about it. Well, it‘s not like he wanted to. He was in the middle of talking to Pidge when that info dropped, and of course Lance decided to pick it up and pick on Keith for it. 

„Yes,“ Keith sighs, dreading the teasing of his boyfriend that‘s about to come, „I‘ve never been on a sledge before.“ 

What comes next surprised Keith. 

„Why?“ Lance asks, forehead furrowed, corners of his mouth drawn down, even his voice gets an octave lower. 

And Keith is confused. Because usually, Lance is not that… distraught over the fact that his childhood doesn’t consist of the same things his does. Like, Christmas dinners, or birthday parties, or simply going sledding. 

Keith just shrugs, helpless about what to do else. “Foster families never took me,” he explains before pointing towards his side where the rest of their friends are still walking. “And Shiro’s not into snow, so he didn’t take me either.” 

Lance gasps, but it doesn’t sound like all those fake-gasps Keith is used to. It sounds actually shocked. “That’s horrible!”

And Keith is getting more and more confused. “It’s not a big deal,” he tries, but Lance won’t have it.

He takes a step closer, squeezes Keith’s hand a tick too tight. “It is.” And with that, he steps back, trying to drag Keith into the direction they just came from. Only that Keith won’t budge. After trying for a moment or two, Lance turns with a frown. “We’re going sledding, now.” 

Keith frowns right back. “We’re going to class now.” 

“That can wait.” 

What? With a shake of his head and a low groan, Keith stares at his boyfriend disbelievingly. “Sledding can wait!” And when Lance won’t stop pulling on his hand, he tries to reason. “Lance, I don’t wanna skip class.” 

“But Keith!” The whine is deafening, and if their friends haven’t moved on without them, they’d surely complain about the embarrassing volume their conversation has risen to. “Sledding is important!” 

“How is that more important than class?”

“Because… because it just is!” Lance stomps his foot into the snowy ground, a splashing some mud all around them. Keith doesn’t are about the mud though, or that his pants are getting dirty. Not when his boyfriend’s voice turns so desperate, so close to the edge to tears, so… broken.

“Lance?” he asks carefully.

The silence is just as deafening between them as Lance’s whine was before. Before Lance speaks up, he takes a shaky breath and exhales it, his shoulders slumping down and his face falling as if all his energy has left him.

“We always do it together,” he murmurs. “My family, I mean.” He looks up, and there is an actual tear rolling down his face, quickly vanishing into Lance’s scarf as if it was never there. “After the first snow,” Lance continues, “we go out and slide down the hill behind our house…” A sniff, a silent sob, a squeeze of his hand. “All together…”

_ Oh. _

Now Keith knows what’s up. Knows why Lance has been feeling down since the first signs of snow appeared, and even more when the snow actually stayed on the ground and did not melt away right away. 

Because he’s homesick. 

Homesick to the point that he wants to convince Keith to skip class to slide off a mountain. 

And Keith can’t just say ‘no’ to that. But they can’t exactly skip class either.

The solution is easy enough. Keith tugs Lance’s hand to get his attention and regards him with a soft smile. “What if you take me this weekend?”

“The whole day?” Lance pouts at Keith. Even with half of his face covered, Keith just knows that the pout is there.

“Yeah,” he nods while taking a step closer, until they are pressed chest to chest. “And then we’ll get hot chocolate.” 

The pout fades to a soft smile. “And cuddle with Kosmo?”

“And cuddle with Kosmo,” Keith chuckles. 

Little puffs of warmth rise in the cold air between them as Lance speaks up with a grin now. “Okay.” He leans in a places his cold forehead against Keith’s. “That’s acceptable, I think.”

“Good.” The last part grinds only mildly on Keith’s nerves, so he seals the deal with a kiss to make his boyfriend shut up for now. “Now let’s get to class. Everyone is already gone.”

Hand in hand they hurry to their college building, arriving fashionably late with laughing like the teenagers they still are. Their hands stay connected for the whole lecture, and for the break after it until they have to part.


	7. Presents

What do you give your emo-boyfriend who never wishes for anything? 

That’s what Lance is struggling with right now. Two weeks until Christmas, and he still has no idea what to give to his boyfriend.

All the other presents are already neatly wrapped and hidden in his wardrobe, but Keith’s?

Yeah, that’s still out there to get discovered. Because that’s what Lance literally feels like he’s doing right now. Trying to uncover a secret, find a hidden treasure… get a gift for Keith. Simple as that.

Or not.

Because it’s impossible to find something nice for Keith. 

Impossible. You hear him?

IMPO- 

Okay, you probably got it.

Lance has been trying to subtly get a hint out of Keith for weeks, since Halloween to be exact. Finding something for Keith’s birthday was already a drama, but quickly fixed when one of his leather gloves went missing (that was not Lance’s doing, really). 

(Really!)

But until now, nothing has vanished, nothing has broken, nothing has occurred that would Keith be like ‘oh, Lance, I really need this’ so that Lance could jump in as his boyfriend’s mighty saviour and provide.

Nothing!

And it’s driving Lance crazy! Not that he wants his boyfriend to lose something, or that something breaks, or that Keith will be in a pinch and come to Lance for help, because Keith literally hates doing that, always trying to be independent, always avoiding to give Lance any kind of trouble. 

Which, for Lance, is never any kind of trouble. He loves helping his boyfriend. Loves giving him things. Loves to receive a kiss or some cuddles as a thank you, and nothing more. 

But if Keith doesn’t wish for something, Lance can’t gift him something. 

And then they might as well cancel Christmas all together.

Lance sighs, long and loud and all together with a nice bodyslam into his sheets. He drops his phone to his side, the page with present ideas “for him” forgotten for now. Lance doesn’t want to cancel Christmas, but if he can’t find something nice for Keith, he doesn’t want something nice from Keith either. 

His phone vibrates in the rhythm that Lance picked specifically for his boyfriend, and his boyfriend only. He can’t hide the smile when he picks it up to read Keith’s message.

**Keith <3**

_ [15:07] I’m cold _

Lance huffs. He gets this text at least once a day ever since temperatures dropped below 50 degrees. Lance never realized just how freezing Keith must be all the time, but he guesses that before they were together, Keith just never felt like telling him that the lack of scarves and beanies in his wardrobe make him feel cold in winter.

Keith has his hoodies and his leather jackets and even some leather gloves that are not fingerless, so his fingers don’t freeze off when it snows outside. But not a single scarf. Not a single beanie. 

And he doesn’t buy one either. He just writes Lance’s those texts every day, as if he was hoping that Lance would get them fo-

Wait.

Wait wait wait wait wait!

Lance jumps up, reads the message again and promptly facepalms himself so hard he drops back into his sheets. 

Of course.

Of fucking course.

Keith has been giving him hints all this time! And Lance was just too stupid to read them!

Lance curses himself, jumps from his bed and over to the basket he keeps all his wool in. Curses himself again when he sees that he might have enough for a beanie, but definitely not enough for a scarf. 

Unless Keith wants a pink one.

Which he probably doesn’t.

With a grin Lance gets his jacket, shoes and own set of beanie and scarves, back his backpack and heads for the door. There is still enough time to buy some nice wool and get his boyfriend nice and cozy for Christmas. 

Lance will make sure that his boyfriend stays warm this year. With his present it will be easy. 


	8. Stars

Keith knows how to laugh. He knows jokes and he knows puns and he knows how to laugh when something is funny. 

That’s why he’s not laughing now. 

Even when his boyfriend is rolling over the floor, holding his belly and laughing like he’s never laughed before. 

“Lance,” Keith growls, frowning at him, then at their Christmas tree, and back at him. “It’s not funny.” 

“Your- hahaha-” Lance can’t even speak properly, still rolling over the floor like a child that had a good sip of some helium. “Your-” 

Keith rolls his eyes. Lance can’t see it, since his eyes are closed tightly and stained with tears that are rolling over his cheeks and onto the floor. He’s trying to catch his breath, but it’s pretty useless. 

And Keith still doesn’t get what’s so funny about it. 

A picture of him on the top of their Christmas tree, that’s it. 

“Lance,” Keith tries again, this time with a little bit more frown and a little less patience, “it’s not funny.”

“But it-” Lance pants, finally stopping rolling around the living room and trying to lean on his arms, “it is!” 

He looks at the tree, looks at Keith, bites his lip and tries to hide a snort behind his hands. 

Keith hears it. Frowns even more. Gets another snort out of Lance. 

“It’s not!” he huffs, his voice final, but still getting ignored. Out of despair, he gets to the tree and tries to rip off the picture Lance put on top of it. But-

Lance dies of laughter, because Keith can’t reach the fucking picture. It’s too high. He’s too small. 

The picture frowns down to him, and he frowns up to it until his eyes move back to his boyfriend. A new wave of tears has arrived, and Lance is back to rolling on the floor like a crazy person. 

Poor Kosmo who has to witness all that from his blanket on the couch. 

Keith is getting full on frustrated. Nothing is near enough to step on and get that fucking picture off the tree, unless Keith gets a chair from the kitchen. But he really doesn’t want to give Lance even more fuel to laugh about. 

Ugh.

Why does he have to keep up with the bullshit Lance is dragging him through?

Simple. Because he loves him. But still. 

Cut Keith some slack!

With yet another huff he crosses his arms over his chest and drops on the couch, waiting for his boyfriend to finally calm down. He gives Kosmo a look, only that his husky doesn’t understand, so he gets back to staring at Lance, who is still tumbling over the floor. 

And continues, for the next five minutes. 

When he finally manages to calm himself down enough to at least be able to sit up on his own, he wipes his cheeks off and crawls towards Keith to place his head on his knees. 

“I’m sorry.” He pouts, but it gets destroyed by a grin that he just can’t hide. “I just love that picture so much,” Lance tries.

“Of course, you do,” Keith murmur, looking everywhere but the picture and his boyfriend. He can feel the chuckle against his leg before he can hear it, and it makes him frown even more. 

“You’re just-” Lance says, but he cuts himself off with another laugh. He tries again when he’s calm again. “You’re just too cute.” 

That’s exactly not what Keith wants to hear. 

“Take it off,” he demands, nodding at his picture on the tree before his eyes move back to his grinning boyfriend.

“But, babe,” Lance chuckles, and Keith already knows that stupid line he’s about to let out, can already feel that eye-roll he will answer with in his head, but he lets Lance’s speak anyway. “Babe, you’re my star!”

Keith groans again. He gets up and lets Lance flop on the floor like a wet towel. Lance is still laughing when Keith leaves the room, and will continue for the next thirty minutes, oblivious of the huge blush on Keith’s face. 

“His star,” Keith scoffs when he’s alone in the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee so he can bear with Lance’s too good mood. “His star.” 

Keith pointedly ignores the pleasant feeling those words leave in his chest. Even when they are followed with more laughter, he knows that, at least to some point, Lance means it. 

And that’s enough for him. 


	9. Future

When they arrived at the deepest part of the Quantum Abyss, Keith had already seen too much of his and Krolia‘s past for this lifetime and the next. 

He‘d seen how his mom fought friends and enemies alike when the blade ordered her to, seen how she met her father only to leave him for the blade yet again, seen how his father had spend night alone, crying himself to sleep when Keith was still too young to realize what‘s going on. 

He‘d seen his mother‘s pain about leaving her child and the love of her life behind, had seen how she struggled with the lost trust from the blade and the impossible missions they sent her to for leaving. 

Had seen how she broke apart after realizing that he‘s dead. After seeing her future without him by his side. But at least she was not alone. Always surrounded by family, the people of the blade she was close enough to call that, Keith‘s team and Lance‘s-

Yeah, that happened- that  _ will _ happen. 

Lance‘s family helping Krolia overcome her loss, helping Keith get closer to her after all what happened, helping both of them learn how it is to have a family to come home to at the end of the day. 

Lance‘s family and Lance. 

It‘s always Lance he sees in his future. Old and grey when they are sitting on a porch-  _ their _ porch, of their house they build together, surrounded by their family. 

Lance, young and loud with the stars reflecting in his eyes when Keith takes him out for a ride on his bike in the middle of the night, passing the ocean Lance loves so much, and the beach he basically grew up at, and all the places they call special because something happened there. 

_ Will _ happen there.

Their first confession. 

Their first kiss. 

Their first proposal. 

Yes, their first of many, because they are dorks and so, so in love that one proposal just isn‘t enough. 

A recurring vision for a long time is Christmas. Maybe it‘s that time of the year on earth, or maybe the Quantum Abyss just wants to cut both of them some slack after literally sending them through hell with all those painful memories of his dad dying, maybe it‘s the visions itselfs being wanting to show them that happy times lay ahead. 

Keith doesn‘t know. And he doesn‘t care. 

With every vision that washes through them, he just lays back and enjoys it for what it‘s worth. 

Singing carols with Lance‘s niblings while trying to bake, even though he‘s been banned from the kitchen a couple of years ago. 

Trying to get an ornament back from Kosmo, who likes it so much that he decided to keep it, even though it‘s made of glass and totally not safe for the space wolf to play with it. 

Being nervous about a present that Lance is about to open, and feeling relief wash through him when he sees the smile in Lance‘s face brightening and his eyes widen in surprise. 

Seeing Lance being nervous about a present he just gave to Keith, fidgeting with his hands, one adorned with a silver ring, and shifting in his seat. 

Explaining some Cuban Christmas tradition he doesn‘t quite understand himself to Krolia, and then to Pidge and Matt who came to visit them over the holidays, and then to Shiro, Adam and a guy he doesn‘t know yet when they come as well, their little house crowded with so many people. 

But it‘s a good crowded, a happy crowded, a crowded Keith never felt before and doesn‘t want to miss anymore.

When the visions fade, Keith is left with a hollow space in his chest that he knows only one person can fill. But that person is far, far away, so far out of reach that Keith is about to lose hope sometimes. Since the visions don‘t have a date on them, or any indication when they will happen, he doesn‘t know how much longer he and Krolia will be stuck on the space whale. 

Maybe weeks, months or years? 

Gosh, he really doesn‘t hope it‘s years. With every picture of Lance‘s smile, of the sparkle in his eyes, of the feeling of his warm hand holding Keith‘s, of-

Of just Lance. With every picture, memory and vision of Lance, Keith‘s heart longs for more. 

And he won‘t hesitate to take it as soon as he gets back. 


	10. Letters

Even though no one who knows him, really,  _ really _ knows him, would dare say it - Keith believes in miracles.

He believes in Mothman,in aliens, in Bigfoot, and in ghosts. He believes his own eyes and the proper facts about cryptids like these, which is why why he believes in them. 

That’s also why he believes in miracles. And Santa Claus.

  
And Santa Claus performing miracles and all that shit. 

Sure, evidence against Santa Claus is pretty strong, but Keith saw the guy  _ himself _ when he was a kid. He got to see him doing his magical magic thing, and he’d even granted Keith’s biggest Christmas wish the next day, so Keith doesn’t believe any such ‘evidence’ against him. Must be fake anyway. 

Hence, Keith still writes Santa a letter every Christmas, even as a twenty-eight year old, married adult. 

Now you might want to know why Keith believes in him, and his magic, and that Santa Claus is scrawny. Yes, not fat, but  _ scrawny _ .

Again: because he’s seen him. With his own two eyes. 

It all happened on a snowy Sunday morning when Lance appeared at the front door of Keith’s house, just like he always did after having some breakfast with his family. When Keith opened the door, he was shocked to see Lance crying into his scarf instead of seeing him smile like Lance usually did when he visited Keith. 

After Keith’s mom hushed both of them inside and got them covered in warm blankets and with enough hot chocolate to last them for the whole day - the special hot chocolate with extra marshmallows on top and a sprinkle of cocoa - Lance finally calmed down enough to explain what got him to cry like this. 

It was all Lance’s parents fault. Because they decided that they wanted to move back to Cuba, because Lance’s grandpa just died and his grandma didn’t seem to be doing well and since Lance was just a kid and couldn’t be left alone in the middle of Washington, even though he begged his parents to let him stay, Lance had to go as well. 

To Cuba.

Without Keith. 

Cue Keith crying as well. Nothing could cheer him up for the rest of the day; not his mom’s hugs or his brother sharing his cookies with him or Lance’s promise to learn how to write very quick so they could send letters to each other. 

Lance was a year younger after all, and while Keith could read and write already, Lance couldn’t. 

That’s why Keith also wrote his and Lance’s letters to Santa Claus later that day, wishing for nothing else but for Lance’s parents to stay in Washington and for Lance to stay with Keith. 

Back then, Keith still believed in everything. The tooth fairy and the easter bunny and the bogey man, so he really believed that Santa Claus could help them out. Especially since he and Lance didn’t wish for anything else, just some tiny miracle that would help them stay together. 

  
What would Keith do without his best friend after all? He didn’t have many friends in school, only the ones he knew thanks to Lance and Shiro, and they were not many. Three, to be exact, if you count Allura, though she hardly ever played with them, so she only counts when Lance talks about her. 

Since it was a Sunday, Lance couldn’t spend the night at Keith’s place, so he left after dinner with the promise to pick Keith up the next day so they could walk to school together. Lance’s pre-school was right next to Keith’s elementary school, and they started and finished at the same time; perfect for spending even more time together, without those noisy adults. 

Keith had troubles falling asleep that night. His head was filled with memories of Lance and him playing together, eating together, walking together and even sleeping together. They spend so much time together, Keith could not imagine how it would be without Lance. 

Sad. That’s what he would be without Lance. Sad and lonely. He knew that much. 

When he could hear the big grandfather clock in the living room strike twelve, Keith decided it was time for a cup of water. He snuck out of his room, since his parents were never happy with him leaving his bed so late at night, and down the steps until he got to the kitchen. 

He quietly got one of his favorite cups, the one with Spiderman on it, got some cold water, and drowned the cup in one go before washing it up and placing it back into the cupboard. He didn’t want his parents to find out after all, and Keith was smart enough to not leave any evidence. 

He was about to go back to bed when he saw a small figure sneaking from Shiro’s room to the front door. 

Burglar was Keith’s first thought as he tiptoed closer. 

Santa Claus was his second, because once he was closer, he could make out the red and white of the guy’s coat, the same colors on his hat, and some thick glasses from behind. Though his hair was a bit too dark, blond instead of white, Keith didn’t care about that detail too much. 

Keith was still rubbing his eyes when he came to a stop behind the guy and whispered: “Santa? Is that you?”

The guy jumped, hid a squeal behind his hands and turned around, his face as white as his hair should be, though half of it was covered with a thick scarf. “Uhm-” he said as he looked at Keith, recognized him even, and who would be able to recognize a little kid in some house other than Santa Claus, huh?

Keith just had to take the opportunity. When else could you ask Santa Claus for your Christmas wish personally? The Santa’s at the mall are clearly fake, just like the ones in the advertisement, but this guy here, appearing in the middle of the night in his home, this guy must be the real deal. “Can you make my friend Lance not move to Cuba?”

“I-uh-” Santa stopped himself, cleared his throat before speaking up again. “I’ll try my best.” His voice suddenly sounded a lot lower, not like how Keith imagined Santa Claus to sound like, but all of his knowledge came from the TV and those fake Santas at the mall, so his knowledge might have been a bit biased before that. 

  
He nodded thankfully up to Santa. “Cool.” Keith didn’t know how much Santa liked hugs, because Keith didn’t really like them unless they came from his mom or Lance, so he just stared up at him, waiting for what Santa would say next. 

“You should go to bed now, Keith.”

  
That made sense. Santa was an adult after all, a responsible one on top of that, so he needed to make sure that Keith would follow his parents rules as well. “Sure.” He turned on his heels and went back upstairs, halting on the first step to turn around with a smile. “Thank you, Santa,” he whispered down the hallway before running upstairs and jumping into his bed, knowing that everything would be alright now. 

When the next morning arrived and his parents wondered why Keith was not as sad as the day before, he didn’t say anything. He didn’t want Santa Claus to get in trouble for breaking into their house before Christmas. 

Lance picked him up like usual, with his smile back in place and the happy news that his family would not be moving to Cuba, only his big brother, since he always wanted to go back, and taking care of his grandma was a nice addition to that as well, since he loved her very much. And because he had a huge crush on the woman helping out in his grandma’s house, it was a double win for him. 

And it was a double win for Keith, because he saw Santa Claus  _ and _ got to keep his best friend (and future husband, not that he knew so at the time) close to him for the rest of his childhood. 

That’s why Keith believes in Santa, even if Shiro tried to explain to him that it was not Santa that Keith saw that night, but Matt who tried to sneak out after curfew. Well, did Matt also make Lance’s parents decide to stay in Washington? 

No, he didn’t. 

Hence, Santa being real. Hence, Keith doing something right by sending Santa a letter each year, thanking him for the greatest gift ever. 

Hence, the happy ending. 


	11. Traditions

Lance’s family has some weird traditions during winter. It is definitely not a Cuban thing, or a regular thing; it is simply a McClain thing. 

And obviously, Lance loves them. Keeps up with them rigorously. Never forgets to do a single one of them, just like the rest of his family. 

For example when the first snow falls. No matter what time of the day and how much ends up falling in the end, Lance’s family always tries to build a snowman. That’s how Keith found himself getting called awake by his boyfriend at two in the morning a couple of years ago. Lance buried him in his winter coat and some gloves before shooing him outside and making Keith watch how to build a snowman for half an hour or so. 

There wasn’t even enough snow. They had to improvise with some crushed ice from the fridge of their dorms!

Another tradition would be the baking. Don’t ask Keith why, but Lance’s family always has to make a thousand cookies until Christmas. 

Yes.

A thousand. 

It’s probably since their family is so big, and back in Cuba they used to bake for their whole village. When Lance tried to do it in their dorms as well, the oven broke before he got the first two hundred done, so most of December was spend begging people to let Lance use their stove. 

And yes, Keith begged as well. Because he didn’t want his boyfriend to be sad for not being able to bake one thousand cookies. 

Lance’s sad face makes him do things he never thought he’d do. Never wanted to do either. 

But hey, they managed, and Keith got a huge pile of cookies and the eternal thankfulness of his boyfriend for that. 

Christmas sweaters was a big one as well. Especially the ugly ones. Thankfully, that tradition only lasted on Christmas Eve, when they gave each other their presents. The one with the ugliest sweater would get a little extra gift, and for a couple of years Lance was the undefeated champ of ugly Christmas sweaters for ten years. 

Right until Keith decided to tape a mirror onto his sweater as a joke and accidentally stole the title from him. 

He’ll never hear the end of that. 

Don’t get Keith started on mistletoes. 

Just-

Don’t.

With all that said, there is one tradition that Keith really enjoys though. And it wasn’t even a tradition until Lance and him got together. 

Winter-cuddles. 

Which is regular cuddles, but in winter. 

Since Lance is from the warmest part of Cuba, cold temperatures are his nemesis. He can’t stand them, can’t handle them, and can’t deal with them like a normal person. Even with the thickest coats and thousands of layers of clothes underneath, he’s still freezing. 

And since he refuses to wear more than a simple shirt in bed, he’s freezing there as well. 

Hence, the cuddles.

When winter rolls around and temperatures drop so low that their dorms can’t keep up with the heating anymore, Lance basically becomes Keith’s roommate, refusing to sleep without him and his cuddles and his warmth. 

Not that Keith minds that. He even loves that. 

Because, unlike popular belief, Keith is really into cuddling. And into holding his boyfriend during the night, and into being able to kiss his forehead in the morning, and listening to his heartbeat, and his cute little snores, and the way he sighs when Keith runs his hand through his hair. 

So, yes. Keith is really into that. And he’s glad that it has become a tradition for Lance to move into his room when it gets cold and demand his winter-cuddles. 

That tradition is just the best. And when warm temperatures come back around, Keith can’t wait for winter to come back. At least until they move together. Then Keith will get his winter-cuddles all year long. 


	12. Cuddles

Traditions, like Keith said before, a nice. Especially the McClain ones, even if he can’t quite get behind some of them. 

You should know by now that Keith loves their winter-cuddles. Loves having Lance over in general, but that’s a different topic. Something he’d not like to think about on a Sunday morning while his brain is still turned off and his body too heavy with sleep to think about anything. 

Well, anything but Lance in his arms. 

His boyfriend is still asleep. From experience Keith knows that he won’t wake up for at least an hour or two, even with Keith stirring beside him to get some blood in the arm Lance is resting his head on. 

Lance is such a heavy sleeper, it surprises Keith sometimes just how hard it is to wake him. He slept through multiple fire alarms already, and as well through the loudest thunderstorms or even louder parties of their dorm mates.

The only things that are able to wake him are his alarm clock (don’t ask Keith why) and, of course, Keith’s kisses. Though he prefers his boyfriend to be asleep for a little longer, that’s why Keith keeps his lips to himself for now. 

It takes a while for his eyes to open, and for his brain to wake up enough to appreciate the handsome man in his arms right now. Lance is pressing his nose into the nape of Keith’s neck, so all he sees are fluffy, brown curls and a bony shoulder, but that’s also all he needs for now. 

One of his hands is around Lance’s back, pulling him closer into his chest so they are flush together. The other is carefully running up and down his neck, touching the tips of his soft hair before caressing the even softer skin under Lance’s shirt. 

Seriously, how can someone have so soft and perfect skin?

Keith doesn’t know how long it takes for Lance to stirr for the first time in his arms. All he does though is cuddle closer into Keith’s chest, brush his nose over the soft skin under Keith’s ear, place a sleepy kiss there and relax again. 

Keith’s heart feels like bursting. 

It takes all of his strength and willpower to not move right now, to not place thousands of kisses on every part of Lance Keith can reach, to not wake his sleeping boyfriend. 

Ugh, he really wants to! But Lance needs some rest as well, especially with the extra hours he’s been putting in at his part-time job, just so they can visit Lance’s family over Christmas together. 

Lance sighs when Keith gets back to running his hand over his skin, this time he moves lower though, under the hem of Lance’s shirt to knead Lance’s muscles with his warm hands.

Lance is a puddle in his arms when he’s done with that, eyes still closed, breathe still steady, nose still pressed into the nape of Keith’s neck and his arms around Keith’s waist, hugging him tight. 

Do you get now why Keith loves those cuddles so much?   
  


Yeah?   
  
Perfect. Now leave him alone. He wants to cuddle his boyfriend after all! 


	13. Christmas lights

It’s probably the most beautiful thing about Christmas. 

The lights, that is. 

Whenever winter time rolls around, which, let’s be honest, happens sooner and sooner, usually right after Halloween already, the city starts to hang up tons of Christmas decoration anywhere they can, from lamp posts to the roof of the city hall. 

Altea has a thing for lights after all, or at least the mayor does. 

This is why the city is also holding a yearly “Christmas lights festival”, where people gather on the big market place in front of the city hall to sing Christmas carols and drink some mulled wine. 

Keith never went. 

He only moved to Altea about five years ago, so he didn’t grew up with all this Christmas-craziness. And in those five years nothing really got him to take a day off work during winter and marvel at all the pretty lights. 

This changed this year though, when Keith acquired one boyfriend. 

Lance, who did grew up in Altea, and is very much into all the Christmas-craziness, begged and begged and begged Keith to take a day off for the festival, so they can go together and combine it with a nice date. 

They didn’t have one of those typical winter dates yet after all, something that Lance really wants to do, something that Keith just can’t turn down. 

He just can’t.

It’s Lance’s wish after all. 

That’s how he finds himself waiting right next to a big, with fir branches and ribbons decorated arch that functions as the entry of to the festival. There are already lots of people here - too many if you ask Keith - and more to come. 

The festival is a big attraction for neighboring cities as well. The big Christmas market and the light show at the end of the festival are some things no one wants to miss out before Christmas.

No one but-

Well, you know the answer. But Keith is still here, shivering like crazy from standing on the same spot for the last fifteen minutes, because he is a fool who came way to early, already too excited about the date than he would like to be. 

He’s contradicting himself. He knows that.

“Babe!” Lance calls from the middle of the road, loud enough to make people turn towards him with amused smiles. Lance ignores them, just like Keith does when he walks towards Lance, right into his warm embrace. 

Lance huffs quietly, chuckles into the nape of Keith’s neck, his cold nose making Keith shiver as it touches his skin.

“Let’s go, shall we?” 

Without waiting for Keith’s answer, Lance pulls him along, through the crowd of people and the arch made of fin branches, through the long street towards the market that’s filled with booths that sell mulled wine and rich food, little presents and pretty ornaments. 

It’s already dark outside, even though it’s barely five in the afternoon. Thousands of lights hanging off the buildings around them like a carpet of stars illuminate the street, and it’s hard to not bump into people while trying to marvel at everything. 

Keith would love to take a few pictures, his fingers twitching in is pocket and slowly reaching towards the heavy camera that he took with him. He stops and looks at Lance to ask for permission to take a few shots when the view in front of him makes his mind void of any thoughts. 

Lance’s eyes sparkle with the lights reflecting in them, their blue dark like the calm ocean at night, reflecting the stars and the moonshine with all their might. His smile is bright and blinding, big like a child seeing the light for the first time, even though he’s been here every year since he’s been born. 

Colorful dots of light dance over his face, his freckles, the soft bow of his nose, his lips that look shiny with some kind of cream Lance put on them before coming here; even the tips of his hair that’s peeking out from under his beanie.

Keith forgets that he wanted to take a picture. Forgets everything but the serene picture of his angel in front of him. 

The Christmas lights are almost the most beautiful thing in Altea. 

Almost. 

Because the most beautiful thing is holding Keith’s hand, smiling at him while pulling him through the crowd. 

Not even the brightest light can compare to him. 


	14. Angels

“Humans are weird,” Lance murmurs into his palm, looking over the edge of their cloud to see what said humans are up to again.

Keith doesn’t answer. He’s heard that phrase over a million times in the past thousand years, ever since he met Lance and partnered up with him. Instead, he ruffles his feathers, lets the longest one caress the length of Lance’s back, from his neck through his long wings and down towards the hem of his toga. 

Lance smiles at Keith, his eyes going hazy over the touch, even though he doesn’t move from his spot. Still looking at the humans and whatever they are up to again. When all his caressing touches don’t work, Keith sits up with a sign to see what Lance is watching right now. 

Space travel? No, they crossed that out a couple of years ago already. 

Exploring their own oceans? They are in the middle of that, but still haven’t even seen a percent of what is down there. 

God himself? Yeah, as if. Keith chuckles at the last thought, knowing fully well what is real and what not. Knowing fully well that human would never be able to grasp the truth behind the universe and what lies beyond that. 

How he knows that? Well, he  _ is  _ kind of omniscient, at least together with Lance he is.

And humans call them ‘angels’, just because they have wings like birds and bodies like them. 

How can he not think of them as stupid? Or at least a bit slow?

Between the two of them, or rather, between all ‘angels’ Keith knows, Lance is the only one who finds the humans entertaining. The only one who loves to watch them live their life, the only one who likes to know more about their inventions, about their religions, about their history and their future. 

Basically the only one who likes them. 

And who is Keith to deny him that pleasure? As long as it doesn’t keep too much of Lance’s attention from him, he doesn’t mind Lance looking over the edge of his cloud every now and then. 

What Keith sees this time is the same, boring thing as every year. It’s winter in some parts of the world, summer in others, but all share the same calendar by now, and many celebrate the yearly festival called ‘Christmas’. 

By now it’s mainly a festival to make money, just as the day of love or the weekend of that bunny, but Lance likes to see more behind it. Likes to watch people scurry to buy presents on time, likes to see families get together, likes to watch children unpack their presents and their parents sit behind them with exhausted smiles. 

He really likes this ‘Christmas’.

Even if he calls the humans weird all the time. 

“You know what?” Lance asks while sitting up, wrapping his wings around his and Keith’s shoulders and pulling him close, so their chests are flush together and his lips brushing over Keith’s. 

“What?” Keith murmurs, not really interested in the question or the answer now that Lance is finally giving him some of the much wanted attention; some of the much needed touch. 

Lance chuckles, his warm breath sending shivers down Keith’s spine and letting the tips of his wings vibrate in excitement. He kisses Keith, long and lucious and all those hot, forbidden words human would describe their kiss with. Keith can only describe it with Lance Lance Lance, since he has never experienced a feeling like this before, and never wants to experience something else in his eternal life. 

Lance hums when he pulls back with a smirk, already knowing that Keith will agree to whatever he’ll ask. “We should meet up with the others.”

Keith groans, regretting to get pulled into Lance’s touch, but also not regretting it at all. It’s feels just too good, too divine, too-

There are no words to describe it. At least in the human language there are none. 

“We saw them ten years ago,” Keith pouts. It might be a long time for any human, but for him and Lance it feels like yesterday.

“So what?” is Lance’s answer, the smirk still there, just like his wings and his arms around Keith’s waist. “It’s Christmas, and I want to see them.”

“Fine,” Keith sighs, not even trying to put up a fight. Why should he, when Lance has already won before it even started?

Why should he fight with Lance in the first place? His lover knows what’s best for the both of them, being omniscient and everything. 

  
Being an ‘angel’ and everything. 

So Keith just succumbs to Lance’s touch. Enjoys his soft skin and softer kisses, his gentle hands and even gentler love, his-

Just his everything. 


	15. Snowed in

Lance blinks slowly, his place at the end of the sofa giving him a perfect view on the snow falling outside their window. He’s resting his head on top of a pillow against the armrest, cuddled into three blankets and a fourth one Keith just draped over him. 

It’s warm here, with the fire in their fireplace burning, and the inbuilt heaters heating what the warmth of the fire can’t reach. It’s so warm with the fire and the heater and the blankets and Keith’s presence next to him, but the picture of the snow outside makes him shiver nevertheless.

Keith looks up, ready to drape another blanket on top of his boyfriend. Lance shakes his head with a smile, thanking him silently before deciding to move up and drape himself over Keith’s lap instead.

His boyfriend bears with him with a smile, only looking up from the book he’s been reading for the past hour to give Lance a kiss and make sure that all the blankets on him are draped correctly. He’s dutiful like that, and doesn’t want his boyfriend to freeze (and whine about it) if he can help it.

“Do you think,” Lance says after a while of watching the fire instead of the snow, “we will ever get out of here?”

With here he means the house. Their house. The one they just moved into a couple of weeks ago, and the one they are doomed to stay at for who knows how long. 

Keith shrugs. “It’s been half a day.”

Half a day of being snowed it. Half a day of Lance’s school being closed because of the unusual amount of snow, and half of the town’s stores as well. The streets are closed for obvious reasons, and their front door stayed closed because the snow is already at hip height and they literally can’t get out. 

“So?” Lance grins, still waiting for Keith’s answer. 

“No,” he deadpans, “we will die here.” He closes his book and looks towards the big basket next to the fire, where a couple of blankets and pillows hide the massive body of their Husky. “Especially Kosmo. He looks like he needs to pee.”

Lance groans, knowing the full meaning behind this. And he doesn’t want the full meaning behind this, because it means that they have to go out. “We could let him go into the backyard,” he offers, hoping that Keith accepts his lazy solution.

Keith actually thinks about it for a second, but in the end he shakes his head. “He would jump over the fence.”

Over their six foot fence?

Lance snorts. “You build the fence high enough.” That was a serious issue when they moved here after all. Kosmo wanting to jump over the fence to the neighbors, Keith and Lance not wanting Kosmo to jump over said fence to said neighbors. 

They had to build a new one, only two days after moving in. In the end, the fence was done quicker than their whole house. With that Lance means the still packed boxes in their guestroom...

“Yeah,” Keith says, jerking Lance out of his guilt, “but with four foot of snow, he has added height.” He nods outside for good measure, but Lance gets what he means. Even if Kosmo would sink into the snow, the risk is still there.

“Kosmo,” Lance calls out with his best baby-voice, getting his dog’s attention immediately, “would you leave us? Abandon us and let us die alone?” 

Kosmo tilts his head, wags his tail for a second but lays back down right away, realizing that Lance was just joking with him. 

Lance takes that as an answer. He puts towards his boyfriend. “I think he wants to say ‘yes’.”

“He totally wants to,” Keith agrees, fake-frowning towards Kosmo and then towards Lance. “We should go with him.” He seems to wait for Lance answer, but when Lance just keeps pouting, he relents with a sigh. “Okay,  _ I _ will go with him.”

Keith tries to get up, but Lance holds him around his waist. “And what if you die?” he asks, receiving a snort from his boyfriend. 

“Then,” Keith explains pushing Lance off and getting up, “I’ll come back as an angel and get you out of here.”

“Before you do that,” Lance half-shouts down the hallway, where Keith is already getting dressed and where Kosmo is jumping around him in excitement to finally get out of here, “can you check if the gas station is open?” 

Keith knows exactly what Lance wants. “Donuts or muffins?” he shouts back.

Lance ponders for a while, but in the end the answer is simple. “Since we will die here: both.”

“Alright,” Keith snorts, his keys jingling in his hand. “See you in half an hour.” 

Lance drags one of the blankets over his shoulder while reaching for his phone and setting a timer. “I’ll make some hot chocolate and wait for your return,” he murmurs after the door is closed and a string of curses can be heard from the outside. 

Lance is so, so glad that he doesn’t have to go. With a sigh he snuggles back into the blankets, dozing off while he waits for his boyfriend to return with some treats.

Keith is dutiful like that after all. They both are.


	16. Midnight kiss

This traditional earth-party his paladin friends invited him to is lots of fun, but there is one thing the Prince of Altea is missing. 

His mate- his boyfriend! That’s how humans call it. 

Lance is missing his boyfriend.

He looked all over the Holt’s place for him. In the bathroom downstairs, in the one upstairs, in the kitchen and the living room and even in Pidge’s and Matt’s bedrooms, finding some pretty embarrassing childhood photos there that he will make sure to use as blackmail material once the chance arises. 

His boyfriend is still missing though. 

By accident Lance looks outside the window in Pidge’s room and finds Kosmo sitting next to a birch at the end of the Holt’s massive garden. He’s a couple hundred feet away, hardly visible in the weak moonlight if it weren’t for his light blue stripes all across his body. 

And if Kosmo is there, Keith has to be near as well. 

Especially since half of the birch tree is shaking weirdly, and Kosmo is watching everything with a little wag of his tail. 

Keith  _ has  _ to be there. 

Lance gets the pretty, blue coat with soft, white fur he got from Colleen and the big, white scarf he got from Shiro. Both seem to dislike the cold outside, just like Lance. The frozen water - snow - is nice, something he’d never seen on Altea, but the cold temperatures are just not his thing. 

Packed in his warmest clothes and a pair of boots Keith got him that will keep his feet warm and dry (it’s the best winter present Lance has gotten, and it’s totally not because he is so in love with his mate), he gets into the Holt’s backyard and joins Kosmo who greets him with a soft bark. 

Keith doesn’t even notice him. Instead, he’s jumping up a tree - or at least he’s trying to - clutching to his bayard and aiming for a bundle of leaves growing in the middle of a thick branch. 

His face is scrunched in concentration and red from the jumping, and no matter what he does, the tip of his sword is still far, far away from the leaves he’s aiming for. 

“Keith?” Lance chuckles after a while, jerking his boyfriend in the middle of a jump and making him land on his butt, which makes him laugh even more. “What are you doing?”

“Lance!” Keith’s face turns even redder, and he’s scrambling to get up and pat the snow off his clothes while walking towards him. “What are you doing here?” he murmurs poketing his deactivated bayard. 

“I was looking for you,” Lance answers, waiting for his mate to get close enough so he can wrap his arms around Keith’s shoulders. Like always, Keith’s hands find his waist and like always he leans in to snatch a kiss. 

It’s almost a tradition that they do this when they meet, no matter if they’ve been separated for weeks or merely a few minutes. 

“It’s almost midnight, you know?” Lance asks in between a couple more pecks, remembering why he was looking for Keith in the beginning. “Shiro told me a bit about your earth traditions.”

Keith scoffs. “Don’t believe him shit.” 

“Don’t worry,” Lance grins, knowing fully well what Keith wants to say with that. Shiro lied about many ‘earth-traditions’ already, and Lance, naive like he is sometimes, believed too many to trust him anymore.

Like the time Shiro insisted that to humans a kiss means that they will mate for life. Or that Lance has to ask Shiro for permission before asking Keith out. Or that a proclamation of love has to happen in front of all of Keith’s family, or Keith won’t accept his feelings. 

“I asked Hunk for confirmation this time,” Lance reassures, hoping that the gentle giant will have some mercy on him. Lance looks back at the tree Keith has been fighting for the past few minutes. “So, what are you doing?”

Keith follows his gaze and frowns at the tree. “Another earth tradition.” He turns back and burrows his face in Lance’s scarf, nuzzling his cold nose against his skin before sighing again. “I’m trying to get a mistletoe.”

Lance tilts his head. He heard of those plants before, but why would Keith want one of them?

“For what?” he asks therefore, nudging his boyfriend when he doesn’t answer right away.

“For-” Keith stutters, the tips of his ears turning red. “For…” He stops, so Lance nudges him again, and again, and again until he finally gets his face out of Lance’s scarf and tells him. “For you.”

Okay. That makes even less sense. 

“A mistletoe?” Lance’s eyes stray back to the leaves on the else leafless tree, trying to remember what he knows about it. “Isn’t that a parasite living of host trees?” he ponders loudly. “Colleen said that it can also be used as medicine.”

Keith nods, though his face looks like he had no idea of that. “And you kiss under it,” he adds after a second, sending Lance into another spiral of confusion.

“Why would I kiss under a parasite?” 

Keith’s face turns even redder. “It’s not-” His voice is high and words hurried. “That’s not part of the tradition! The parasite part, I mean.” He sighs into the scarf, his breath like a hot drizzle on Lance’s skin that vanishes all too quickly. “You get a twig of the mistletoe, hang it over a door frame or just somewhere in the house, and if you meet under it, you kiss.”

Lance hums quietly. That sounds like something Shiro would say to prank Lance again, but he knows that Keith would never do that, especially if it includes kissing. 

Especially if it includes kissing his boyfriend. 

A grin appears on Lance’s lips and he nudges Keith’s cheeks with the cold tip of his nose. “Do you want to kiss someone?” he teases, knowing fully well what Keith will answer. 

“I want to kiss  _ you _ !”

And because he can’t let that opportunity to tease Keith go: “Under a parasite?” 

Keith groans and hides his face again. “Forget it,” he murmurs, his voice stifled from the scarf but the disappointment in it ringing loud in Lance’s ears. “I thought you would like that romantic shit, but I should just stick to your Altean traditions.”

Lance notices that Keith doesn’t give up on this ‘romantic shit’. Just the earth versions of it.

It’s endearing, thoughtful, makes his heart flutter like crazy. It’s all those feelings that Lance learned he could have while being with Keith. Love, affection, safety, care. 

A little bit of embarrassment as well, but the happy kind. The kind that makes him want to hide his smile in the crook of Keith’s heck. The kind that makes his stomach feel like it has a thousand of those earthen butterflies in his stomach. The kind that makes him step closer, entangle Keith’s finger and his and pull him against his chest. 

“Hey, Keith?” Lance whispers, not needing more volume in his voice since he is so close to him, to his face, to his lips. He looks up with a smile, wait for Keith to follow his gaze until explaining with a whole mountain of anticipation in his stomach: “We are standing under a mistletoe right now.”

What he is anticipating you ask?

A kiss, obviously. 

A couple of kisses, if he is allowed to hope for.

A thousand even, if the ancients are on his side. 

And Lance gets those kisses, at the same time the fireworks go off. Not just the ones in his chest, but the ones the Holt‘s prepared for their little party as well. Lance is sure that‘s it‘s a beautiful sight, all those pretty lights in combination with a earth song they chose, but this moment right here, in Keith‘s arms, kissing him crazy and doing not only one, but two earth traditions at the same time.

Jackpot. 

For a brief moment, Lance leans away. “I like that tradition,“ he whispers against Keith‘s lips, looking up at the mistletoe hanging innocently above them.

Kosmo is getting closer as well, pushing his side into Lance and Keith to wrap them into his body and protect them from the evil fireworks going off. Lance laughs and pets his head, but his attention gets drawn back by Keith when he leans in for another kiss. 

And a thousand more. The perfect way to start a new year.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Comments mean the world to me, so please tell me what you think about this fic.
> 
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